Favourite overdrive?

[RichardF]

No. Funnily enough I thought of a weak link in the chain, so I tried just a battery powered Boss SD1 on it's own with good cables and hiss was evident.

[Verne Andru]

What is an opamp?

An operational amplifier is a solid state chip used in many devices in lieu of things like transistors and tubes for amplification stages. While there are many areas in the signal chain that can introduce noise, the cheaper opamps are usually the primary culprit in things like pedals. The more expensive Excalibur's all but eliminate hiss, but that comes at a price in terms of higher cost and power consumption, which will cause the device to eat batteries faster.

If you are running noisy pedals into solid-state amps that also use cheap opamps, the hiss is compounded throughout the signal chain.

Poor cabling is also a big problem as can be bad AC caused by poor wiring in the building.

[RichardF]

Thanks for this Verne.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

What is an opamp?

Not sure I can explain it...

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/...ee-opamp-intro

Daniel

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Poor cabling is also a big problem as can be bad AC caused by poor wiring in the building.

This is why touring pros use power conditioners, and why I am tempted to get one. Power in a room can be over loaded, poorly supplied, or badly wired.

Daniel